Not that much news from these parts. The 3/11 trial is off for the weekend; on Friday Youssef Belhadj, Hassan el Haski, and Jamal Zougam all denied having anything to do with the bombings. Nobody believed them. El Haski is also accused of being one of the planners of the Casablanca bombings in May 2003.

News from the French Basque country: Chef Alain Ducasse announced that he is closing down his hotel and restaurant in the town of Bidarray because of the harassment he has received from pro-ETA sectors, including death threats and a bomb last June. Gee, that's great, some world-famous guy comes to our town and brings jobs--Ducasse's empire employs 1200 people--and gets us publicity. So let's run him out of town!

Two women died last week during plastic surgery at the Hospital Evangelico right here around the corner in Gracia. Different surgeons operated on them, and inspectors are trying to figure out what's going on. They've shut down the hospital operating rooms just to be safe.

The Generalitat says it's going to train 15,000 English teachers. Yeah, right. I'm not sure there are 15,000 English speakers in Catalonia, not counting us immigrants.

Starting April 14 they're going to keep the subway open all Saturday night here in Barcelona. Good. That ought to reduce drunk driving a good bit, and make it easier to get a taxi, which is virtually impossible after about 1 AM. This is very convenient for me because I live right between the green line, which runs Fontana-Catalunya-Liceu, and the yellow line, which runs Joanic-Urquinaona-Jaume I. Direct connections from Gracia to downtown, which are the two most interesting parts of the city.

In case you were wondering, Britney Spears shaved her head. That should make her 100% hairless, rather like a Chihuahua.